Chapter 493: The Roving King Arrives — Land to the Tillers

"My Lord, you must have misspoken, surely? How can they be traitors and rebels..." Pang Tianshou frowned the moment he heard Chongzhen. How could His Lordship talk such nonsense?

The Chongzhen Emperor laughed coldly. "What else would they be but traitors and rebels? Where in the Great Ming are there any loyal subjects and filial sons left? Even if a few remain, none of them would be longing for a debauched and feckless tyrant like Us!"

"My Lord, you are no tyrant..." Pang Tianshou said, while inwardly begging the Lord God above to forgive him — he was a devout Catholic and knew that lying was wrong.

By any measure, the present Chongzhen Emperor looked every inch a tyrant now — he had lost half the realm, lost the imperial ancestral tombs, and after fleeing to Jiangnan had shown no sign of setting the country to rights, only of wallowing in debauchery. He had held one selection of palace maidens while in Shandong, and after reaching Jiangnan had held another — and this latter time he had chosen a hundred at once... It was truly shameless!

More women meant more expense! The great filial son Zhu Cilang gave Chongzhen five hundred thousand taels a year in pocket money, and in just over half a year it was all spent. Now it had been raised to one million taels a year!

And that one million taels did not even include the money spent on this latest maiden selection or the various gifts of filial tribute the great filial son presented on festivals and holidays... This Lord, who had lived frugally for over a decade, was now spending money at a pace that nearly rivaled the late Jiajing Emperor!

Fortunately, the Great Ming still had a filial and capable Army-Supervising Crown Prince holding the situation together — otherwise it would most likely have perished already...

"My Lord, the Seven-Province Governor-General and Supreme Commander Shi, Governor Gao of Shandong, and Militia Minister Zuo Maodi are all loyal subjects!"

The Chongzhen Emperor turned his head to glance at Pang Tianshou and burst out laughing. "And you call yourself the grand eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses — you cannot even tell a loyal subject from a rebel! Those three you named are all rebels!"

"Rebels? How can that be?" Pang Tianshou was stunned again and again. "My Lord, those three are honored by the Jiangnan literati as the Three Loyal Subjects of Shandong..."

"The Jiangnan literati?" Chongzhen snorted coldly. "Those scholars are no different from the Nanjing merit-nobles who have gorged themselves on every game in sight! Not a single one of them is any good... For the sake of this ancestral realm, for the sake of the countless common people, We have suffered to the very bone! Over ten years as Son of Heaven, We have never slept one peaceful night, nor ever spent money in comfort. And what about them? How much have they plundered? They pay no imperial grain tax and no commercial tax! And as if their own tax evasion were not enough, they use fraudulent registration and property transfer schemes to help others evade taxes too! Worse still, they encroach on the state's military fields and official garrison lands. The Great Ming's realm has been hollowed out by these very worms!

If Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi are held up as loyal subjects by such worms, how can they possibly be good men?"

Well... that actually seemed to make some sense!

Still not satisfied, Chongzhen went on berating them. "And in our Great Ming, a truly loyal subject — no matter how loyal, no matter how capable — will always be smeared by those idle censors and supervising secretaries until he looks no different from a traitor and rebel... But has anyone now submitted a memorial speaking ill of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, or Zuo Maodi?"

Has no one? Pang Tianshou thought to himself: even if someone had, how would I know... These days the Directorate of Ceremonial has no memorials to read at all, let alone a grand eunuch like me who merely holds a nominal post in the Directorate of the Imperial Horses.

Chongzhen continued, "Do you know why no one calls those three traitors and rebels? Because they are traitors and rebels now... They hold their troops and build their own power, carving out territory and lording it over their regions — every one of them a local hegemon. In name they are the Great Ming's Governor, Governor-General, and Militia Minister, but in truth they are all military commissioners — military commissioners!"

Pang Tianshou thought to himself: His Lordship has completely lost his senses. How could he entertain such absurd notions? The Great Ming's loyal subjects are all smeared black, while the true traitors and rebels go unexposed...

Chongzhen gave two snorts. "Besides those three traitors and rebels, there are Huang Degong in Huaibei, Gao Jie in Xuhai, Zuo Liangyu in Hubei, He Tengjiao in Hunan, Mu Tianbo in Yunnan... All of them, every one, are traitors and rebels! And that is why none of them wants the Crown Prince to ascend the throne... because as long as the Crown Prince does not ascend, he will not turn his mind to cutting down their fiefdoms. Not only will he not cut them down, he will have to coax and flatter these traitors and rebels! Now that We are about to abdicate, let us watch how these traitors and rebels put on their act of loyalty and filial piety!"

"This subject congratulates the Thousand Years!"

"This subject congratulates His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"This subject congratulates the common people of the realm!"

"This subject congratulates the Great Ming's realm..."

Not long after Zhu Cilang returned to the Hall of Literary Splendor, the Great Ming's loyal subjects, having received the good news, began arriving one after another to offer their congratulations.

Yet Zhu Cilang wore no joyful expression at all, but rather a face full of gravity. Only when the senior officials in the capital had mostly assembled did he sigh and say, "We are young and of meager virtue, and Our Imperial Father is still in the prime of life. By rights it should not fall to Us to take charge of affairs. But because of the fall of the capital, the devastation of the north, and the splintering of the realm, Our Imperial Father has grown disheartened and wishes only to cultivate virtue with single-minded devotion, no longer burdened by worldly affairs. That is why We have had no choice but to step forward and set this chaotic world to rights — truly a task We undertake with great reluctance. Fortunately, with the wholehearted assistance of all of you these past days, We have barely managed to stabilize the southeastern half of the realm. Now that Our Imperial Father has set his heart on abdicating in Our favor, do you all think We ought to take this further step as circumstances allow?"

"Thousand Years," Wei Zaode was the first to step forward. "When Heaven bestows and one does not take it, one is sure to suffer its punishment; when the time has come and one does not act, one is sure to suffer its calamity! Heaven has bestowed, the time has come — you must take this further step! But this step will not be an easy one to take!"

Zhu Cilang nodded. This "Zhang Juzheng" of his did have some insight after all — at least he understood that being emperor was no easy task.

Wu Xiang also spoke. "Your Highness, if you become emperor, it will not only be rightful in name but true in substance... If you refuse, the two hundred thousand officers and men of the Hard-Working New Army will not agree to it either!"

The Hard-Working New Army had completed another round of expansion, recruiting many strong and sturdy northern refugees into its ranks. With the various guards and the various divisions, plus the navy and marines, its numbers were now approaching two hundred thousand.

Among them, the number of model regiments had increased by eight, reaching a total of twenty, and the artillery had also been expanded somewhat.

In addition, the Nanjing Military Academy was being run more and more properly. Its enrolled students were now called "officer cadets," the course of study had been extended to one year, and it had been divided into five specialized branches: artillery, engineering, infantry, cavalry, and logistics. The earliest cadets had either been sent down to the units to command troops or had become instructors at the academy. They had begun "leading the young astray" — they themselves were half-baked, yet they went off to teach others... But there was no one else to use, so they could only be made to learn while they taught.

The current student body had also grown to five hundred. Most were officers of various ranks drawn from the ranks of the army, sent in for remedial study so that they could better master the skills of commanding the New Army. There were also some imperial clansmen and sons of merit-nobles — according to the new regulations laid down by Zhu Cilang, they first had to enlist as soldiers in the Xiaoling Guard New Army, and only then, based on their performance and examination results, could they enter the Military Academy.

With these two hundred thousand New Army troops, the Crown Prince Zhu had ample confidence to become emperor!

Zhu Cilang then looked at Qian Qianyi. "Master Qian, what do you say?"

"Your Highness," Qian Qianyi said, "although His Majesty is sincere and wholehearted in wishing to abdicate, the realm is now in turmoil, and on all sides there are no small number of traitors and rebels. They will surely seize this opportunity to make trouble for the court. And since Your Highness has already come this far, there can be no turning back..."

Qian Qianyi spoke truly... Having come this far, Zhu Cilang could not turn back. The Chongzhen Emperor's public declaration of his intention to abdicate had in fact pushed Zhu Cilang, the Army-Supervising Crown Prince, right into the teeth of the storm.

If he dared not accept the throne that Chongzhen was handing over, then the Hard-Working faction that followed him would itself begin to waver — the Hard-Working meritorious officials had long been looking forward to this day!

But outside the Hard-Working faction, neither the southeastern scholar-officials nor the powerful ministers and warlords who had carved out territory in Shandong, Xuhai, Huaibei, Huguang, and Yunnan wished to see Crown Prince Zhu ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.

Because the moment he ascended, the situation of one court with two masters would come to an end. Zhu Cilang would then, rightfully and legitimately, become the sovereign of these traitors and rebels!

And once Zhu Cilang became the Great Emperor Zhu, would he not cut down their fiefdoms one by one?

"And who are the traitors and rebels?" Zhu Cilang asked, looking at Qian Qianyi.

"That..." Qian Qianyi's brow furrowed deeply. "When the time comes, they will reveal themselves! Your Highness, you must be prepared!"

"Prepared for what?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"Prepared," Qian Qianyi paused, then lowered his voice, "to execute one to warn a hundred!"

Zhu Cilang burst out laughing. "Good! Master Qian is indeed of one mind with Us... After We set out on campaign, affairs in the capital shall be entrusted to Master Qian, Chief Grand Secretary Wei, and Minister Wu of the Ministry of War, to be handled jointly!"